Amphibious Velox robot uses undulating fins to swim and crawl

US company Pliant Energy Systems has turned one of its green energy technologies into a propulsion system for a swimming robot capable of exploring land and sea.
The Velox robot can move through water as well as over sand, pebbles, snow, ice and other solid ground, completing tasks that robots designed purely for either land or sea would be unsuited for.
Velox's versatility is due to its undulating soft fins, which sit on either side of Velox and move in a hyperbolic pattern reminiscent of a stingray or a millipede.
Pliant Energy originally developed the fins as a system for generating electricity from rivers. It wanted a shape that wouldn't become entangled with debris and or be damaged by bumping up against heavy objects like tree trunks.
Read more on Dezeen: www.dezeen.com/?p=1315082
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[@antonioorbegoso8847]

Anomalocaris's robot 🤓

[@puggleski6097]

Pretty amazing. As a shallow water craft, this is unbeatable. State of the art. Well done !!

[@fruitjuice_]

Mecha Gondal 😍☺️

[@BobStein]

The Economist issue December 18, 2021, has a great article about this device. Propellors it turns out are very inefficient. Boats with velox could have a shallower draft among other benefits.

[@kyungseomin]

Some sound and explanation about it would be nice. Fascinating though

[@voidwanderer7138]

*Motor buzz*splashy*
" it's a wiggly boi"

[@nejuokinganezvengiau8975]

mecha gondal

[@JetFalcon710]

This robot is so damn cool tbh

[@popsiclestickd4032]

The fact that they turned up and down motions to forward movements amazes me. And it can move on land too!

[@nicewhenearnedrudemostlyel489]

"The fact that"

[@canyonrat2]

Fascinating.

[@canyouwishuponacar5044]

Mecha Gondal

[@Alan.Mohammed]

I really cannot imagine the future 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@brieziethirteen13]

This is outstanding.
But spooky asFfffffffk

[@i3_13]

Like a ray.

[@bananabeast9384]

I want this as a toy so bad

[@SomeGuyandHisHerps]

The children yearn for the Cambrian

[@footfault1941]

Cambrian explosion!

[@bluecatte6803]

mecha gondal

[@cyrusaalborg]

Cuttlefish on land - hope to se one with gopro crawling in the great pyramids og Egypt

[@phantom-yg4or]

I named it Crawley so cute 🤗

[@ToxicallyMasculinelol]

Looks just like Anomalocaris!

[@krishnakanth2697]

It's better than the real thing awesome

[@bobbygomes2195]

Man......this is one spooky robot....😮
Just imagine combining this with AI.....🥶

[@mattphorwich]

Pretty awsome! I wonder how much it costs and if it can have use in agriculture or mining.

[@MCLifer6093]

It looks like a manta ray swimming or a squid.

[@lanz637]

Could you imagine the military application for a full scale amphibious vehicle?
Traditional tanks could become obsolete.
I wonder how energy efficient it is.
It mimics nature so well that I'm guessing that its design is quite efficient

[@Unmannedair]

I think it would make an interesting surveillance drone, but it would be near useless for other applications due to size and speed problems.

[@Sara3346]

Reminds me a lot of how marine flatworms swims I wonder if that's what inspired this?

[@BobStein]

Article in The Economist 18-Dec-2021 issue implies the inspiration was cuttlefish.

[@juancrisantes7671]

Reminds me of rods

[@Dufalak]

the main thing is to calculate the length of the electrical cable.

[@bonelesskid80]

Man imagine this as an rc toy

[@shimronnetia]

it does well in water than land

[@Drunken_Hamster]

Kewl.

[@Myalnyblth0]

It looks like a cuttlefish

[@Alan.Mohammed]

I want to travel to the future

[@billythemillipede6102]

Submechanophobics are quaking rn

[@TheTchaume]

For the next episod of black mirror .?

[@georgipotterashlee6760]

WOW！That's really cool. WHERE CAN I buy one?

[@RonaldJMacDonald]

This technology could make submarines quieter and faster.

[@keegany4r176]

Screw-driven submarines are decently fast and incredibly quiet already, however I don‘t know that this system would offer any benefits to be used in service.

[@ACYMB]

It looks like an (se ve como un) anomalocaris

[@Dinoslay]

That would make a great future submarine.

[@gamecity7265]

What's happening ?...
In sliding environment (ice, water), it goes opposite to the wave direction.
On non sliding environment (floor) it goes in the wave direction.

[@Unmannedair]

That's because as you said, in one method is a sliding motion and in the other it's a rolling motion. I'm rolling motion the point that's touching the ground is at zero velocity relative the the ground. This is why the phasing moves in different directions.

[@cooperproductions3731]

Mecha gondal

[@mattsproductions7525]

I have no idea what that thing is but I want it

[@kristinamedalla4406]

i think the inspiration of this are some prehistoric sea creatures..........like trilobites and etc.

[@TheropodHunter]

Anomalocaris.

[@famoso5367]

Robot alien ..

[@highonlife2323]

Wake me up inside

[@k0sh258]

the world is now close to being the horizon in ps4

[@aspopulvera9130]

Why no big drone companies implemented this type of propulsion?

[@GDcelta]

how did gondal evolve so fast?

[@sebastianteuta6003]

Parece un platelminto
It looks like a platelminto

[@aarshithroy3598]

What are those flippers called?

[@apokalipsx25]

This could be a start for a new secret NAVY program. It makes ZERO sound underwater. Imagine a submarine with nuclear rockets and without any sound !

[@cwtheking3771]

not really the fin structure is less efficient the more you scale it up and it would still make sound due to the motors needed to run the fins

[@hauntedcaptainphoenix5363]

Can we turn this thing into a life size vehicle to save people in disaster.

[@amonglagamingirony4380]

no way this is real

[@Alan.Mohammed]

Is it just me or does that make you uncomfortable 🥵

[@cwtheking3771]

@@drgato5231 not really the fin structure is bad at support weight and theres not a ton of weapons that can be good underwater and above at best it can be used to put mines on the surface and we already have cheeper faster better robots for that most probably will be used for scouting or sonar

[@user-hv2ov2gi4w]

Anomalocaris?

[@chrysina2011]

but can't fly

[@gamecity7265]

Would it work through empty space ?

[@jasondeng7677]

There wouldn't be anything for the fins to push through and move it, so definately no

[@gamecity7265]

@@jasondeng7677 I still wonder what if the wave goes super fast... the energy traversing the wave would transform itself in some kind of inertia

[@gumikebbap]

@@gamecity7265 still nope

[@gamecity7265]

@@gumikebbap So you made the experience ? If energy can move through space in a form of wave, then may undulating body / wave itself could move through space. I don't know, Aside through water, i never see by myself, an undulating body, move through empty space.

[@gumikebbap]

@@gamecity7265 think about it this way: for something to move, it has to push something else in the oposite direction. in the case of the robot, it's pushing water/the ground/snow backwards. The wavelike form of its propeller is unrelated.
That said, you gave me a cool idea: maybe there could be something that pushes photons/waves/particles backwards. that might work. what do you think?

[@user-pf5xq3lq8i]

A large swarm could help reduce the population numbers and help global warming.

[@plam_mom_art]

Think about 10k of this robot with g-u-ns, why are made it

[@sycne1783]

Mecha Gondal

[@nejuokinganezvengiau8975]

mecha gondal

[@brennanscarpello9453]

Mecha gondal

[@minty_fresch]

mecha gondal

[@bogman14mhm10]

mecha gondal

[@aghjklkjh4375]

mecha gondal

[@PolarUnix]

mecha gondal

[@Colon-D...]

mecha gondal